The Online Shopping Thread

This is a discussion on The Online Shopping Thread within Gadgets, Computers & Software, part of the Shifting gears category; I recently (i.e. 24th Jan) got a product delivered from eBay.in. A wrong product (from what was stated in description), ...

I recently (i.e. 24th Jan) got a product delivered from eBay.in. A wrong product (from what was stated in description), to be precise.

I talked to the seller regarding this but he was like 'Claim will not be approved anyway' all the time. Claim was approved on 4th February after numerous (3+) calls to eBay customer care. Do note that they do not have a mail service for registering/hearing to complaints and I had to rely on 'Raise a Claim' page by updating remarks, which took more than 3-4 days to be responded to. Next, eBay.in sent me a remark that I have to courier the stuff back to the seller in Punjab and they would pay the charges back via coupon.

As I was short on time, I chose PickParcel.com and arranged for a pickup from my place on a priority basis (paid Rs. 256 for a 500g packet worth Rs. 800 ) which was supposed to be picked up on 8th February (same day) itself. I sent pictures of the invoice and AWB to eBay.in and waited for the courier person. Till 10th February, no one had come to pick the parcel and I started searching for customer care details of both PickParcel.com and ARAMEX (who were supposed to deliver).

PickParcel team didn't reply to any of my 8 mails, didn't pick up any of my 12 calls and the owner's contact number given on the site is switched off. I called up Aramex and they casually said that the courier pickup was cancelled by me as the parcel was not ready, and asked me to co-ordinate with PickParcel for arranging another pickup.

Frustrated, I sent a mail to Aramex higher ups and my parcel was picked up the same day (infact, within 3 hours). The courier person was not able to find my address and cancelled the pickup on my behalf on 9th February. My issue at eBay.in was supposed to be resolved by 10th February but has no updates till now.

From what I had to go through, I would say stay away from PickParcel.com and even eBay.in. Sites like Rediff shopping have 10x better return policy and customer care team, and once replaced an item in 2 days flat.

I have not got any updates on my claim, order or parcel status. My claim ID with eBay.in is 1653705 and PickParcel order number is 145491071333724. eBay seller is v_rocker_40 (Vaibhav Sehgal). Except Aramex, every single company/party has been highly non-cooperative and unprofessional in their attitude. Beware.

This item should attract customs duty. Have you checked on similar items on any X1 / Bimmer forums ?

Ok so how will I know how much will be the customs charge ? I asked the seller but didn't get any reply yet. Guess they are on leave for the Chinese new year now.

I got this from one of the Bimmer US forums. Couldn't find it anywhere else. In India MXS motorsports has it, but it doesn't look as authentic as the one in Aliexpress which looks as good as BMW's stock Xenon's.

They have tieups with shipping companies who can get the rate and include it in their shipping rates right ?

I'm trying to search here but can't find anything about it.

It's completely random. A few times, for some big box items of mine, the postman collected a token amount of a few hundred. Other times the box was opened and inspected, and they put some value and collected maximum 1500 for an item that cost me 100USD.

Folks who've lived in the US/UK/Europe know some of the stuff we can get there (clothes, gifts, electronics, ladies accessories, toys etc.) which we seldom find here. Well, here's an answer to those concerned, provided, you're ready to bear the custom duty (if required) and shipping charges.

It's this site called http://www.borderlinx.com
Just register on the site and they generate a US/UK/Germany/Hong Kong postal address with your name on it and you can use that as the delivery address when you shop on those sites. I recently bought a tote bag and bracelet from a high street UK store and got it shipped to my proxy address in the UK. Borderlinx promptly processed it and shipped through DHL and I got my order in a week's time. Had to pay hefty shipping charges and custom duty though, but me being a sucker for exclusive brands that we don't get in India, went for it.

Disclaimer: I'm not marketing this site. Just a happy customer sharing it with people who are used to shopping online in those countries.

will suggest you to stay away for multiple reasons , you may void warranty and there are possibilities of actually harming your electrical's using non OEM parts specially like Lights which may have different current ratings then BMW OE ones. Most of purchases at Ali express here are for low values & I doubt Ali express ships using DHL or FedEx. Add the hassles of custom clearance if it gets struck due to higher value.

You should try with local dealership and order OE fittings even if expensive.

... I doubt Ali express ships using DHL or FedEx. Add the hassles of custom clearance if it gets struck due to higher value.

Aliexpress does ship with various courier companies, incl the Fedex/ DHL type.

However, I would like to mention one point in line with what you had said. Recently one member ordered a headlamp for a Hyundai. The shape/size/ specs all good - but the shape of the connector was different. Hence he is now looking for a work-around to complete the connections

ARAMEX (Shop N Ship) was spamming me for a few days to upload KYC documents.
I did not have any in-process orders with them but they are emailing all registered customers twice a day to upload KYC documents on their portal.
The reason cited is that customs requires these things, else parcels will not go through.

I had to send email to their manager to get me off the list.
Oh, I forgot, I would get at least one SMS daily reminding me to upload documents.